Do software engineering professionals still read? - survey results

 

In order to gauge the potential audience for my book, So you think you can lead a team?, I conducted a small survey of my colleagues, co-workers and anyone from Linked. I read regularly, for work and pleasure, and assumed everyone else did too but did the responses I received confirm this?

I polled 173 people, all within the software engineering field (including Product, etc), with a range of ages and years of experience in their role. What surprised me the most was that the majority of people, young or old, just starting or seasoned, still prefer reading physical books to blogs or e-readers. It also seemed that the older and more experienced were the most keen in learning more, and reading to expand or update their knowledge. 

When it comes to reading habits between different roles the survey showed that software engineers and team leads read more regularly for their career than other roles, with 55 years old and over and 16+ years experience being the biggest readers overall.

Which roles read the most relating to their career?

Overall 109 of 173 responded with yes, occasionally or yes, regularly when asked if they read which is 62% of participants overall. Just over 50% of these were Software Engineers, with the second largest category being Team Leads or Engineering Managers at 18%, closely followed by Architects and Principle Engineers at 12%. 

Which age group read the most?

Over 55 is the highest age group, with 35-44 and 45-54 not far behind. Under 25s were by far the lowest group with only two respondents in this category

Do those with more experience read more?

By some measure the largest number in this category was those with many years of experience. 16+ years made up over half (57%) of respondents who occasionally or regularly read career books. 6 to 15 years was the second largest category, but even when combined they still only accounted for 30% or replies. Just under 12% were made up of 0 to 5 years of career experience.

Are certain job roles more likely to finish books?

Each respondent was asked how often they finish a book. The options were at least 1 per month, every 2-3 months, a few per year and rarely.

Those who work in Product gave almost equal responses, but with ‘rarely’ taking the lion’s share at 36%. “At least 1 per month" at 27%, and ‘a few per year’ and ‘every 2-3 months’ both with 18%.

Software Engineers were even closer to an even four-way split to responses. Highest, but not by much, was ‘a few per year’ at 30%, with the other three ‘rarely’, ‘2-3 months’ and ‘at least 1 per month’ sharing the remaining 70% almost equally. 

Architects / Principal Engineers had 42% replying ‘Every 2-3 months’, followed closely with 31% ‘a few per year’ and 21% ‘at least 1 per month’.

‘A few per year’ makes up the highest percentage of team Leads / Engineering Managers at nearly 40%, with ‘rarely’ coming up second with 27%.

Nearly half (47%) of all other roles finished ‘at least 1 per month’, then it dropped to ‘a few per year’ at 29%. Both ‘every 2-3 months’ and ‘rarely’ are both 11%.

Software Engineers

Team Leads

Architects / Principal Engineers

Product

Other

Are different ages more likely to finish a book than others?

With the same options for response as the previous category, almost an even quarterly split for the 25-34 age group, but the answer of ‘a few per year’ has a slightly higher number of responses.

In the next age group, 35-45, almost half the respondents replied with ‘a few per year’, with just over a quarter answering ‘rarely’. 45-54 year olds were another almost equally split, but with ‘every 2-3 months’ taking 35% of answers, with the other three responses all at 21%.

Our largest age bracket of 55+ were the more avid readers, with 37.5% claiming to read ‘at least 1 book per month’, with ‘every 2-3 months’ and ‘a few per year’ taking 25% each. This is not because 55+ would include those who are retired, and therefore have more time to read you might assume, as only one respondent entered their job title as ‘retired’. The ‘under 25’ group, which was small to start with, are at the extreme ends of responses with two thirds saying they read ‘at least 1 book per month’, with the remaining third saying they rarely finish a book.

Under 25

25 to 34

 35 to 44 

45 to 54

55+

Are more experienced people more likely to finish a book than others?

30% of our experienced respondents, at 16 years or more, said they finish ‘at least 1 per month’, compared to 11-15 years experience where only 8% do the same - almost half say they only read a few books per year. Similarly 40% of those with 6-10 years experience read ‘a few per year’, with 20% saying they don’t or rarely read. An overwhelming 43% of those with 3-5 years experience say they rarely read, with the remaining 57% finishing between 1 and 3 books every 3 months. Those in the beginning of their career (less than two years) are the biggest readers with 44% finishing at least a book a month, but on the other hand 33% of this experience group read rarely.

0 to 2 years

3 to 5 years

6 to 10 years

11 to 15 years

16+ years

Do different job roles prefer different reading formats?

Across all job titles, the most preferred format is still physical books, with 53% of all respondents saying this is how they prefer to read.

Team Leads

Software Engineers

Architects

Products

Other

Do different ages prefer different reading formats?

Under 25s are split evenly between physical books, e-books and a mix of both. 25-34 overwhelmingly prefer physical books, with their least favourite being audiobooks, with similar results for 35-44 year olds. 45-54, the second largest group of respondents, again prefer physical books, with almost half saying a version of e-reader. Our largest group, over 55s, are very similar to the 25-34 age bracket, preferring physical books over any other option.

25 to 34 years

35 to 44 years

45 to 54 years

55+ years

Do those with different levels of experience prefer different reading formats?

Those in the early stages of their career (0-2 years) show double the amount of people prefer physical books to any other format, while those with 3-5 years experience make a shift towards e-books, but with almost as many preferring physical media. At 6-10 years experience they overwhelmingly prefer a printed book over any other format. 11-15 years experience again prefer printed material. They do however, have a slightly higher number of respondents enjoying e-books as well, when compared to 6-10 years experience. 16+ years experience, by far the largest category, also show this trend towards physical media over other types of material.

0 to 2 years

3 to 5 years

6 to 10 years

11 to 15 years

16+ years

Thank you to Harvey Gwynn for collating the data and producing the charts.